November 26, 2011

influence (n.)
late 14c., an astrological term, "streaming ethereal power from the stars acting upon character or destiny of men," from O.Fr. influence "emanation from the stars that acts upon one's character and destiny" (13c.), also "a flow of water," from M.L. influentia "a flowing in" (also used in the astrological sense), from L. influentem (nom. influens), prp. of influere "to flow into," from in- "into, in, on, upon" (see in- (2)) + fluere "to flow" (seefluent). Meaning "exercise of personal power by human beings" is from mid-15c.; meaning "exertion of unseen influence by persons" is from 1580s (a sense already in M.L., e.g. Aquinas). Under the influence "drunk" first attested 1866.

Flowing, streaming, melting, welling up, swelling, boiling over, bubbling up... but when we say "fluent" these days, we're usually speaking about speaking: fluent speech. But this idea of fluency began with a word about bubbling up, not streaming down from the stars, and that ground-up flowing concept takes us to the fascinating word "bole":

Swollen penis! Blossom! Pillow! Pimple! We've come to an odd spot on this etymological path. We begin with influence, which came from the stars, and we found our way to flowing water and then to a swelling tree trunk or phallus. Keep in mind that we are talking about politics.

But this is a blog post, so I've got to stop now. Your turn to speak. Flow on, burst forth, see if you can influence anybody.

The Dali Obama's utterly mockable lack of influence is interesting, (more so for those who can observe the devaluing and cannibalizing of America's future in a dispassionate, objective manner, as if it were mere performance art writ large) and probably accurate.

This comes from his profound lack of experience, which was self-evident to at least 47% of the electorate. And, if we're playing the etymology game, the dictionary says:experience (v.) 1530s, "to test, try;" see experience (n.). Sense of "feel, undergo" first recorded 1580s. Related: Experiences; experiencing.experience (n.) late 14c., "observation as the source of knowledge; actual observation; an event which has affected one," from O.Fr. esperience (13c.) "experiment, proof, experience," from L. experientia "knowledge gained by repeated trials," from experientem (nom. experiens), prp. of experiri "to try, test," from ex- "out of" (see ex-) + peritus "experienced, tested," from PIE base *per- "to lead, pass over" (see peril). Meaning "state of having done something and gotten handy at it" is from late 15c.

Despite the long use of the word, too American voters stupidly discounted or ignored its value in helping them decide, so now we're left a growing disaster of a presidency that was completely avoidable, had we only cared enough to think it through.

If messing up the best health care system in the world and causing a 12% increase in insurance premiums affecting over 150 million people is "least influential," I'd hate to see what influential actually is...

And perhaps I should note, that this is GQ article--how is what GQ thinks influential? I would never wear any of their clothing looks, but I am an old fart anyway. Rather like Whoppie Goldberg commenting on the qualifications of a presidential candidate.